July 30, 2015
Highest percentage of inferior winter wheat in Nebraska among US states
Among hard red winter wheat-producing states in the US, Nebraska is the worst performing as its average percentage for harvest reached 81%.
According to a recent crop report, hard red winter wheatin Nebraska is rated at 15% for "very poor", 20% for "poor", 32% for "fair", 31% for "good" and 2% for "excellent".
In early July, the USDA expected winter wheat in the state to fall 23% year-on-year in 2015, to a volume of 54.6 million bushels, due to unfavourable weathers.
Still, in a countrywide assessment based on 18 winter wheat states, 7% and 16% of crops were reported to be "very poor" and "poor", respectively. The percentages are lower than 2014's record of 22% for both ratings.
However, the same cannot be said of soft winter wheat.
The first emergence of the crop this year was the worst in quality in at least 17 years, according to US Wheat Associates. Heavy rain on eastern states was blamed for the degradation.